Editorial: Pulling plug on 'Big Bird' fowl congressional mistake

Posted: Tuesday, July 27, 1999

If certain members of Congress have their way, "Big Bird" could wind up on the endangered species list.

In what could be described as a knee-jerk reaction, House Republicans are crying foul, or make that "fowl," over the Corporation for Public Broadcasting swapping donor lists with political groups, primarily the Democratic National Committee.

CPB officials have admitted participating in the list swapping and apologized to a House subcommittee last week, going so far as to call the situation "downright stupid and embarrassing."

That would be an apt description. However, it hardly justifies pulling the plug on federal funds for public broadcasting, including television and radio. U.S. Rep. Steve Largent, R-Okla., said "Big Bird is 30 years old, and it's time to leave the federal nest." Largent, a former Seattle Seahawks' professional football player, shouldn't fly off the handle.

Public broadcasting, which enjoys tax-exempt status in addition to 15 percent of its budget from federal funds, cannot be allowed to participate in political activity. CPB officials called the list swapping an honest mistake. Consider also that CPB also swapped donor lists with Republican nominee Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.

Terminating public broadcasting, which includes quality children's programming such as traditional favorite "Sesame Street," over an illogical assumption that public broadcasting panders to the left amounts to a classic case of political paranoia.

Previous to the list-swapping fiasco, there wasn't any significant consideration applied to any political leanings by public broadcasting.

Now all of a sudden public broadcasting should be terminated? That seems an awful big egg to hatch, even for "Big Bird."